We have struck it rich in the tomato department. All of those heirloom tomato plants that we planted in the garden at Black Ankle are producing like mad. Mary has been bringing us a large basket every week filled with Brandywines, Purple Cherokees, Green Zebras, Purple Russians, and Hawaiian Pineapples. This week we had so many that she suggested that we get together to make sauce.
I usually prefer my heirlooms raw because they are so delicious and juicy. I also have not had success making sauce from heirlooms. All that juiciness translates into a very watery sauce. Drain all that water off and there's not much pulp left. But we have had too many to keep up with eating them raw, although believe me, I am doing my best. Mary suggested we try roasting the tomatoes and I thought that might help dry them out. It didn't, but the end result was still delicious.
We separated out the yellow Hawaiian Pineapples and Green Zebras to make each into a sauce of its own. Then we mixed the remaining red and purple varieties. The Hawaiian Pineapples were remarkably sweet and the Green Zebras quite tart. The red and purple varieties made a more traditional tomato-y sauce, perfect for pasta, couscous, or polenta.
Because each of the heirloom varieties has such a different flavor, when you make this recipe, taste the sauce and adjust the flavors as needed. Roasted shallots were a great complement to the Hawaiian Pineapples and also balanced out the tartness of the Green Zebras (along with a generous amount of basil). The sauce can be frozen or canned. If you are canning, you may find the instructions here or here to be helpful.
In addition to producing some delicious sauce, our sauce making evening was the perfect excuse for a few friends to get together, cook, chat, and share a bottle of wine. Black Ankle, of course.
Roasted Heirloom Tomato Sauce
Makes about 2 cups of sauce
30 minutes preparation time
40 minutes cooking time
4-5 large heirloom tomatoes
1/4 cup olive oil
5-6 garlic cloves
10-12 basil leaves, torn
Salt
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Core the tomatoes and cut them in half. Lay them with the cut sides facing up in a roasting or jelly roll pan. Leave the garlic cloves in their skins and sprinkle them over the tomatoes. Drizzle the olive oil on top. Roast the tomatoes until they are very soft and the edges have browned, about 40 minutes. If you are using heirlooms, a good bit of liquid will come out of the tomatoes as they cook. Carefully remove the pan from the oven.
Set a colander in a large bowl. Pour some of the liquid from the tomatoes into the colander and set the pan aside until the tomatoes are cool enough to handle. When they have cooled, slip the skins off and discard them. Peel the skin off the garlic, too. Pour the tomatoes with their liquid into the colander, and let it drain for a few minutes.
Pour the tomato mixture from the colander into a bowl, add the garlic, and blend briefly with a hand blender. Add the basil and a few pinches of salt.
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